American sitcoms are my favorite TV shows, from Seinfeld to That ’70s Show, to Scrubs, Becker, My Name is Earl, Grounded for life, Mad About You, to Saved By The Bell, and Step by Step, I enjoy watching it, it’s really funny and entertaining, pretty stupid as well, but it goes easy, each episode is like 20 minutes long, no need to think or follow-up to stay engaged, which makes it the perfect solution for someone who seeks some entertainment after a hectic day.
In the Arab world, few sitcoms appeared in Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, but frankly it’s really really bad, not even close to being funny, I believe it should be called sickoms, it made me think, why can’t Arabs do a simple comedy show like those we see in America? Egypt has a great history with comedy, whether it’s TV, cinema or on stage, even their TV Commercials, you won’t stop laughing, but with sitcoms, Egyptians didn’t succeed to create present good stuff.
Few reports talked about a planned visit of the co-producer of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ellen Sandler, to Dubai in November, where she will be conducting a workshop on scriptwriting during the Media and Marketing Show. The workshop, Everybody Loves Sitcoms, will give insights on Hollywood producers’ techniques in short-format and long-format comedy shows. The workshop will teach the participants how to manage the whole process of creating a television show, from pitching to financing and managing the crow, all the way to creating buzz around the show.
Sounds promising, but will it help in changing Arab’s idea of light comedy shows?
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Advertising Agency: TBWA\RAAD Dubai, UAE
Regional Creative Director: Nirmal Diwadkar
Art Director: Mohanad Shuraideh
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Dubai International Character & Licensing Fair, the first dedicated trade event in the Middle East for marketing and licensing of cartoon characters, logos, films, brands, arts & designs. The exhibition will be organized in Dubai between October 28 – 30, 2008.
Having such an event means that companies in the Middle East are getting a little bit serious about animation being a potential industry. The event seems to be promising, and I hope that I can attend. While I was browsing their website, I came across this character, Jumjum, I didn’t like it, you can do much better with a camel, maybe they see something in it, but personally I didn’t like it.
Animation industry is growing in the Middle East, it’s still in its early stages, but few interesting initiatives have been launched such as Freej, it’s a funny show, I liked it, it’s about 4 old UAE national women living in a secluded neighborhood in modern day Dubai, where they try to live a peaceful life and to tackle new social issues that are being unveiled by the continuous expansion of the city. I liked the and the style of the animation, and the details of each object in the show.
Sha3beyt Al-Cartoon is another Khaliji animation series that tackles day-to-day life in the Arabian Gulf countries, it’s a funny show, and I really liked the animation, it goes 3D sometimes, it’s amazing!
Super Hinadi is a new cartoon show about a private inspector who is trying to solve mysteries, beginning with the disappearance of his grandfather, the interesting thing about this show that the characters are inspired by real actors, the looks are exactly the same, and the real actors are performing the voice over; Hinadi is the Egyptian actor Mohamed Hinadi, Husni is Hasan Husni, Sal3at is Tal3at Zakaria. I didn’t watch the show, but I like Hasan Husni and Tal3at Zakaria, they are funny.
Fwazeer Khashom wa Zaggom, is a comedy show about the Bukhashims, a weird family in the camels and lambs business, the main character are two idiot brothers, and the first Arabic-cloned-sheep that can talk. I didn’t like the animations in this one, I do prefer details like in Freej and Sha3beyt Al-Cartoon.
The Middle East succeeded in attracting global attention, Rubicon is working on producing international animation series such Pink Panther and Angel Cat Sugar in its offices in Amman and Dubai, which I consider a very good step ahead.
But I believe we need more Middle Eastern stuff, the jackpot would be a character like Bugs Bunny or Pink Panther, or some sort of a duet like Tom & Jerry, something Arabian, something that can live for years.
Take a look at the event!
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The first and only dedicated trade event in the Middle East for marketing and licensing of cartoon characters, logos, films, brands, arts & designs is scheduled to make its debut on October 28 – 30, 2008 at the Hall 1, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai, UAE. The Dubai International Character & Licensing Fair – Character Dubai is officially supported by Dubai Convention Bureau, Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), Dubai Naturalization and Residency Department (DNRD) and Arab Media Group as Official Media partner. Further bolstering the tremendous publicity and promotion of the event is the tie-ups with Dubai Shopping Festival and Dubailand, which is also the event Official Platinum Sponsor. Along with that, Character Dubai will be participating and promoting the event in the international market through exhibiting and visiting trade shows such Seoul Character Fair, Tokyo International Anime Fair, Licensing International (USA) among others.
Character Dubai is a member of LIMA (International Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Association), will provide a remarkable opportunity to brand-owners, retailer, consumer product manufacturers, licensors of Character and Animation agencies, media companies to mingle with the decision makers, licensing agents and marketing professionals from overseas. The event will initiate and finalize licensing deals, secure potential leads and create general awareness about licensing procedures to global buyers.
The Dubai International Character and Licensing Fair is the ideal platform in bringing together the leading international characters producers, media, advertisers, graphic designers, marketers, manufacturers, retailers, licensees, licensing agents, licensors and other decision makers and investors from the entire Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, the Indian Sub - continent, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas
The Dubai International Character & Licensing Fair “Character Dubai” is a unique fair that will be held for the first time in the Middle East. This fair will attract more than 250 professional companies from around the world in addition to 10,000 trade visitors and dealers who will come together to interact, network and exchange business knowledge & expertise.
For more details please visit: Character.ae
Contact Details:
Ms. Aeran Sin
Tel: +971 4 362 4717
Fax: +971 4 362 4718
E-mail: [email protected] , [email protected]
September 19th, 2008
12:07 pm
Ads, UAE
Advertising Agency: TEAM/Y&R Dubai, UAE
Executive Creative Director: Shahir Ahmed
Creative Director: Guilherme Rangel
Copywriter: Wilbur D’Costa
Art Director & Illustrator: Guilherme Rangel
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